A Surprise Apology Lunch
by Eternal Fauna
Summary: The Zeroes get a chance encounter with Miss Shikiko and get invited back to her place for some lunch


**A Surprise Apology Lunch**

The Zeroes get a chance encounter with Miss Shikiko and get invited back to her place for some lunch

Shikiko, daughter of Kio, and owner of the Kaidou family fortune had always found the streets and towns to be so interesting and entertaining. Every now and again she would leave her mansion and go out to see the world, today though she felt a day in the park would be lovely and set out to the closest one, telling her maids she would be back later.

She walked for a good couple inches until she ran into someone, a boy no older than twelve with long curly red hair and a patch over his right eye.

"Hey girl! Apologize!" a boy with long straight green hair said helping the redhead up.

'How dare he! I will do no such thing!' Shikiko thought and started to walk away.

"Hey girl! You better apologize right now!" the green haired boy yelled.

"Relax Youji. I bet she doesn't know how to. She looks like a "Sheltered princess" type to me. I bet she normally has her maids do it for her." The redhead said stopping Shikiko in her tracks.

'What is with these two?! "Sheltered princess"? I am no such thing!' Shikiko thought feeling her anger rise.

"True, it just pisses me off when some little girl walks away after running into you." the green haired boy, Youji said.

"Little?! I am 16 years old!" Shikiko said turning to look at the boys.

"Could have fooled me." Youji said with a shrug.

"Fine if you want an apology, come with me to my manor and enjoy a delightful lunch with me." Shikiko said.

"I don't know, that seems weird, right? What do you think, Natsuo?" Youji whispered.

The redhead, Natsuo looked Shikiko over. "I think she reminds me of Miss Nagisa, and I also think if we eat fancy rich food, we have something to brag to poor boring Kio about." Natsuo said with a smirk.

"Good point! Okay girl, we'll have lunch with you." Youji said to Shikiko.

"Excellent, follow me this way."

The walk back was quiet for Shikiko as she entered the manor gates, her maid, Ms. Katou looked surprised as she looked the two boys over.

"Katou, please bring tea and lunch to my room." Shikiko said.

"Y-young miss… of course." Katou said bowing before heading to the kitchen.

Shikiko went over to two other maids afterward. "Marie, Rene, please see to it that our guests have more suitable attire and have bathed, afterward bring them to my room." Shikiko said heading upstairs.

"Right away miss." The two said in unison. The maids grabbed Natsuo and Youji and dragged them away as well, while the boys struggled and fought.

Once they were bathed and dried off, Natsuo and Youji stood wrapped in towels while the maids held out neatly folded clothing for the boys to wear.

"We apologize, but lady Shikiko doesn't normally allow men in, so all we could find that wouldn't be awkward were kimonos." One of the maids said bowing and blushing.

"We'll help you put them on, and we'll even give you back your clothing after the lunch, but for now please put up with this." The other maid said.

"Youji… I'm starting to regret saying yes." Natsuo muttered while the maids dressed them in the kimonos. Once they were done, Natsuo and Youji looked at each other, their hair was pulled back by ribbons, and the kimonos were slightly too big for them.

"You look…" Youji couldn't finish speaking as he looked at Natsuo. Natsuo's kimono was light green with light pink flowers on the bottom, his red hair hung out partially from the black ribbon in his hair, with his bangs hanging completely over his eyepatch.

"Yeah, same to you." Natsuo said. Youji's kimono however was light pink with dark red flowers, his hair was pulled all the way back with an identical ribbon to Natsuo's.

"Please follow us, lady Shikiko is sure to be pleased by your appearances." The maids said leading the boys to the master of the house's room. Shikiko sat waiting in a large chair, sipping tea.

"Oh you two look so pleasant now! Have a seat, Katou should be up any moment with our lunch, for now though help yourselves to some tea, I've been partaking in lavender tea as of late." The girl said with a smile.

Natsuo, who was far more adventurous in trying new foods and drinks, poured a small cup for himself, he looked at it and taking a deep breath he tried it. 'Oh foul! It tastes like I just bit into a flower!' Natsuo thought bitterly as he set the cup back down.

"Oh my, I see the tea is not for you, very well," Shikiko rang a small bell signaling for a maid to come in. the maid did and looked at the three.

"Please bring the water for us, our guests do not value the same tastes as I." Shikiko said to the maid. The woman nodded and bowed as she left the room while Katou came in with a cart of food.

"Ooh! Thank you Katou." Shikiko said smiling at her head maid. Natsuo and Youji looked at the food before them and frowned.

'Is this lunch or a snack? Where's the meat?' Youji thought while Natsuo tried it.

"Hmm, it's actually not awful." Natsuo said.

"Of course not you tasteless slouch. This food is the very best." Shikiko said looking up as a maid came in with water.

"Thank you Nana." Shikiko said with a smile.

Natsuo looked at the water and tried it. "What the hell?! It tastes like roses!" he said.

"Of course it does! This water is made from the dew drops of the roses in the garden, it's good!" Shikiko argued.

"Rose water? Why would you want to drink perfume? Youji asked smelling the water.

"Of course little boys like you would never understand." Shikiko said defiantly.

"If I had to guess, I would think that you lost your ears to one of your maids. After all the way to talk about males, it's obvious that you don't like them." Natsuo said leaning back in his chair.

"You're correct. My ears were a bother and got in the way, so I asked one of the maids to take them for me, I would never ask a man, they are far too barbarous and weak to handle such a task." Shikiko said leaning back in her chair as well and taking a sip of her tea.

"You seem to really hate men, why is that?" Youji asked.

"It's easy, Youji. Her father left her at a young age and that was enough to get her to resent them. I could tell because there are no pictures of a man anywhere in this house, and when she first met us she was already glaring at us." Natsuo said.

"You're smart, for a boy. But that's because you had to be. You felt you had to prove something, I'm guessing that something has to do with your eye? After you lost it, everyone treated you different, so you had to work passed that, am I right?" Shikiko asked, surprised to find a male with an intellect to match hers.

Natsuo's eyes grew in shock, with a hint of sadness behind them, and he changed the subject, looking down at his food and eating. "Your cook makes good food." He said.

'Check and mate. Though his intellect is on par with my own, he is still a boy and is still weak, though unlike most, these two appear strong.' Shikiko said analyzing the boys sitting across from her.

"Who's better, Soubi or this cook?" Youji asked looking at Natsuo.

"Hmm good question, this cook is good at making fancy food, but Soubi makes tasty normal food, so I guess it comes down to what you prefer." Natsuo said.

"True, but to be honest I prefer Soubi's food, this food is too weird for me." Youji said causing Natsuo to shush him.

"Youji! Manners!" Natsuo scolded.

"Sorry." Youji said looking down.

'I rather like this boy, he's smart, quick, and disciplined.' Shikiko thought looking at Natsuo.

"Natsuo can we go soon, I'm bored." Youji said.

"Youji!" Natsuo said shooting Youji a 'Behave-yourself' look.

"It's quite alright, and it is rather stuffy in here, please, let us walk in the garden before we part ways." Shikiko said standing up. Youji and Natsuo shrugged and followed her outside, ending up in a maze of flowers.

"It's so pretty here!" Youji said with a smile. Natsuo nodded and walked over to one of the rose bushes, spotting a wilting red rose among a sea of perfect ones.

"Oh dear. I should fire the gardener, she left an ugly rose." Shikiko said looking at the rose as well.

"I don't know, I like it. It's darker than the rest giving it a blood color, I think it's the prettiest one, to be honest." Natsuo said smiling softly.

Shikiko blushed. 'Mother, is this how you felt when you met father? Is this…could this be, love?' Shikiko thought.

"You can have it if you like." Shikiko said as she spotted her gardener.

"Seriously?" Natsuo asked sounding surprised.

"Of course. It doesn't go with the others, and as an added apology, I feel it is best if I give you a rose you find pretty." Shikiko said sounding dignified.

"Right…" Natsuo said watching as the female gardener came over and cut the wilting rose of the bush, pruning the thorns off afterward and handing it to him.

"Natsuo, it's getting late, we should probably start heading back." Youji said going over to where Natsuo and Shikiko were.

"Yeah, okay." Natsuo responded.

"If you head back inside and talk to Katou, she should be able to get your clothes back." Shikiko said looking down.

"Okay, we'll thanks for the perfume and food." Natsuo said as he and Youji headed back inside.

You were being uncharacteristically nice." Youji said as he and Natsuo left the manor.

"What can I say, I found her to be amusing, plus anyone that can stump me in a mind game earns my respect." Natsuo said with a smirk.

"She looked like a doll." Youji commented with a laugh.

Natsuo laughed as well. "I wonder which one of her maids took her ears." Natsuo said as an after thought.

"Probably the one with the short hair and glasses, she seemed awfully nice to the girl." Youji said.

"True, okay, let's go home and eat real food." Natsuo said grabbing Youji's hand and heading back to Soubi's.

END. What do you think, I mean when I read book 10 and Shikiko was introduced I thought, "She's so cute! And she's close to Kio's age and his daughter? How?" so I decided to do a story with her and my favorite Zeroes, I may do another story with these three if this one is popular enough.


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